Discharge valve



F. B. ALLEN DISCHARGE VALVE July 15, 1952 Filed May 4, 1945 INVENTOR FRANK B.AL EN Wms m ATTORNEY Patented July 15, 1952 -Frank B. Allen, Verona, N.l

J., vassgnor 'toVA C-O-Two Fire Equipment Company, Newark, N.'J. a corporation of Delaware j Y f Applictijn May 4, 1945.s"eria1No.592,oos

2" claims. (C1. 137-466) 1 v This invention relates to discharge valves for fire extinguishing apparatus.

Fire extinguishing systems of the class contemplated in this invention comprise one or more cylinders of carbon-dioxide under great 'pressure which is discharged through a suitable valve and a piping system to the point desired.

Because of the great pressure vunder 'which carbon-dioxide isV stored in these cylinders it has been usual to provide'a disc `which can be perforated to'eiect' release of 'the' gas. When such devices are used on ships'of war which are subject to shocks and impacts because of the firing of their own Weapons and enemy attack, it is important that the releasevalve 'does not operate When subject to such shocks.V At the same time any device intended to prevent such pre- 'mature discharge of the gas must not complicate the operation of a deviceunduly. It' will be appreciated that a disc which is to be perforated by a moving plunger can be perforated by a numb`er of blows from vthe plunger engendered by a series of shocks or impacts, any one of which is insuicient to completely perforate the disc Malone.. y A.

vIt is, therefore, an objectof the presentinvention to provide a release valve. for' carbondioxide re extinguishing systems which is not provided for preventing the pressure from building up sufliciently to ,operate the mechanism.

It is an object of Ythis inventionto. provide a release Yvalve'l for lire extinguishing 'systems' which is inherently incapable of release by leaks in thesystem.

addition to the above considerations in conf.. nection with the'operation of re extinguishing equpmentfinvolvingfa disc to befplerced, the

` pressure operated type'of mechanism has Vanother 'n limitation. Itcan be appreciated that the force required copiare efa discfinfthe type of extinnsi'deratior' `is` `indepe'inient of ulsher under Iinietemp@rattle ,acoger .tnepressuregwigmu trier.. "container: Itis necessary to'make tnerdisc heavy by possible high temperature to which the equipment may be subjected.

It can be conceived, then, that the ideal'situation would be one in which thejresistanceto opening of the valve was proportional to the pressure'available to so open the valve.

Accordingly, it is a further objectof the present invention to provide a release mechanism for fluid stored under pressure-in vwhich the pressure requiredy to 'operate -the mechanism is proportioned to Vthe pressure available.

Referring now to the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a section taken on-a plane through the axis of a valve comprising one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 ,is a section takenV along line 2-'2 of Fig. 1; and y Fig. 3 is a section taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Y

The device shown consists of two `mairrparts; a lower section or cylinder valve I Band an upper section lor discharge head II, which are connected by means of the union nut I2. The cylinder valve has a threaded portion I3 which is screwed into the neck lof a container for compressed gas. An internally threaded portion I4 supports a syphon tube which extends down into the cylinder and assures that substantially all of the liquid within the cylinder is discharged. This cylinder valve lbody carries a safety device in the form of a disc I5 which wouldrbe ruptured Vunder excessive pressure.` This disc is held in discharges through theports.' A filling opening may be provided in the cylinder valve. In the shown form this is a short neck I9 provided with external threads for lcoupling to a-source Aof carbon-dioxide. A bore extends through this neck to ythe centralpassage 20 oithevalve, A

scharge 3 the supply hose. The plug 22 and cap 23 serve to further retain the carbon-dioxide.

In order to provide a valve which can be opened to release the contents of the cylinder, the upper end of the valve body carries a valve seat 24 forming part of the bushing or partition member 25 which is threaded into the valve body I0. A valve assembly 26 cooperates with the valve seat 24 to form -a gas-tight joint when the valve is in the position shown in Fig. 1. This assembly consists essentially of a valve body 21 which is non-circular as shown in Fig. 3 to permit flow past the valve when it is open. The body 21 carries a gasket 28 which bears against' the valve seat and is secured to the body by means of a screw 29. A spring 30 serves to retain the valve in the position shown in Fig. 1 except when it is forced downwardly by a mechanism to be described.

The discharge head I l consists of a body member 3| which can be secured to the cylinder valve by means of the coupling nut I2 as before described, A steam 32 provided with an axial bore 33 passes through the center opening of the bushing or partition member 25 and upon downward movement will depress the valve 26. In order to prevent leakage of the gas around the stem 32 a packing 34 is provided. To permit entrance of the gas to the center bore 33 a plurality of openings 35 are made in the stem 32.

The upper end of the stem 32 is secured to a piston 36 which is movable within the discharge head 3 l. VThis piston is of greater area than the area of the valve 26. A washer 31 on the lower face on the piston cooperates with the upper sealingsurface of the bushing 25 to form a gastight seal whennthe piston is in its lowermost position. The packing 38 serves to prevent discharge of the gas throughthe space between the piston and the bore in which it operates.

The air or gas displaced by the piston on its downward movement passes around the bushing 25, which is made hexagonal (as shown in Fig. 2) to provide a clearance, through openings 39 in the valve body and out through openings 40 in the coupling l2.

It will be noted that both packages 34 and 38 are in the form of rings'of rectangular crosssection with V-shaped grooves in the side presented to the higher pressure. ance is provided in therecess holding each packing. This type of packing has the property of beingrextremely efficient under high pressure, but permits leakage ci gas at low pressures. Thus, failure of check valves in the line as described in the above mentioned patent will permit the gas to leak past packing 38 and out through openings 39 and 40, and any slow leaks developing past the valve assembly 26 will cause gas to pass the packing 34,and thence pass outward through the opening 39 and 40.

In order to initiate downward movement of the piston 35 and the stem r32, an operating rod 4I is secured toormade part of the piston. This rod hasbeen shown as being hollow for substan- A slight cleartially all of its lengthfor theV purpose of reducing Upon forcing the operating rod 4I downwardly, which may be done by hand or by means of some automatic device, the stem 32 forces the valve 26 away from the valve seat 24, thus permitting gas to pass upwardly through the valve stem 33 past the ball check 44 and into the space above the position. Because the area of the piston 36 is greater than the area of the valve 26, an unbalance is produced whichforces the piston 36 downwardly until it is stopped by the contact of the washer 31 and the top of the bushing 25. Gas continues to flow out of the container until substantially all of it is released. When the pressure above the piston 36 decreases suiciently due to this discharge, the springs 43 and 30 return the'parts to the position shown in Fig. 1.

It will be noted that in the event of a shock or impact being imparted to the entire valve assembly as, for instance, during the firing of heavy guns on a vessel in which the device is installed, the operating rod 4I may be forced downwardly to some extent. However, it is comparatively simple to so relate the strength of the spring 43 and the mass of the operating rod 4I and associated parts so that even if the stem 32 comes in contact with the valve assembly 26 the force is insuicient to unseat the valve. The spring 43 need not be so powerful as would be necessary if it were absolutely essential that the stem 32 be prevented from touching the valve. In the case of a disc which is intended to be perforated by the equivalent of stem 32 it would be necessary to so prevent the bottom of the stem from touching the disc at any time under such impacts, because continued blows of the stem on the disc under such impacts would eventually rupture the disc and cause discharge. Thus, the device does notbecome too diicult to operate, and furthermore, the difference in pressure between the inside' of the 'cylinder and the outlet 45 need not be so' great in order that the valve may remain open. This means that there is a more complete discharge from the cylinder.

The device may also be operated bythe pressure of gas on the upper side of the piston 36 alone, as, for example, when another cylinder of carbondioxide is connected to a header. In such a case, release of gas from any one of the cylinders will operate the valves on the others by forcing their respective pistons downwardly. In that event, the use of a valve, rather than a perforatable disc. becomes` particularly advantageous. The pressure above the'piston 36 bears a constant ratio to the pressure below the valv'e 26, depending on the design of the system. Accordingly. there is the same certainty lof operation at low temperatures as atjhigh, decrease of pressure available to 'force theY Ypiston down being accompanied by a corresponding decrease .in the pressure resisting suchd'ownward movement.

Theabove Ydescriptionv is of a preferred embodiment of my invention but is.to be understood that' Il' do not wish to belimited to the particulardescription illustrated and that the scope of thisfinvention is best construed by means of the `following claims.

Iclaimz.V M c A dischargevalve for fluid under high. pressure,4 comprisinga housing in separable upper and lower sections, a Yunion nut to secure the ,sections/together, `the upper section having `a discharge outlet,' 'and"a piston chamber. a piston inj'the' piston chamber, a hollow piston stem apertiire'ci at the'uiziperV end thereof,A a ball check to fclose.;the'rpassage",through the piston stem against downward fluid iiow, the lower section having a threaded lower end to be secured in the outlet of a high pressure luid container, the lower section having a passage therethrough with an enlarged portion at its upper end dening a valve chamber, an apertured partition member threadedly engaged in the upper end of the enlarged passage to form the upper wall of the valve chamber, a Valve seat formed on the lower side of the partition about the aperture, the upper end of the aperture in the partition member enlarged to from a packing recess, a packing in the recess, a packing nut threadedly engaged in the upper end of the packing recess, a valve member in the valve chamber adapted to engage the valve seat, resilient means normally urging the valve member against the valve seat, the eiective area ofthe piston greater than the area enclosed by the valve seat, the

lower end of the piston stem apertured to provide a fluid passage therein, the valve stem normally spaced from the valve member, and resilient means normally urging the valve stem away from the valve member.

2. A discharge valve for fluid under high pressure comprising a housing in separable upper and lower sections, a union nut to secure the sections together, the upper section having a discharge outlet and a piston chamber, a piston in the piston chamber, a hollow piston stern apertured at the upper end thereof, a ball check to close the passage through the piston stem against downward fluid flow, the lower section having a threaded lower end to be secured in the outlet of a high pressure uid container, the lower section having a passage therethrough with an enlarged portion at its upper end defining a valve chamber, the intersection of the wall of the passage and of the enlarged portion thereof forming a shoulder, an apertured partition member threadedly engaged in the upper end of the enlarged portion to form the upper wall of the valve chamber and the lower end of the cylinder, a valve seat formed on the lower side of the partition about the aperture, means outer surface of the Valve member, the valve member having a downwardly depending portion, a rst spring normally urging the valve member against the valve seat, one end of the first spring abutting against the shoulder, the other end of the first spring extending about the downwardly depending portion of the valve member, the eiective area of the piston greater than the eiTective area enclosed by the valve seat, the lower end of the piston stem apertured to provide a uid passage therein, the valve stem normally spaced from the valve member, and a second spring normally urging the valve stem away from the valve member.

FRANK B. ALLEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 88,610 Converse Apr. 6, 1869 334,640 Chapman Jan. 19, 1886 674,289 Wescott May 14, 1901 1,023,630 Elkins Apr. 16, 1912 1,028,986 Bettendorf June 11, 1912 1,300,301 Smith Apr. 15, 1919 1,586,418 Frederiksen May 25, 1926 1,937,044 Miller Nov. 28, 1933 1,942,837 Schultheiss Jan. 9, 1934 2,051,589 Allen Aug. 18, 1936 2,383,961 Freygang Sept. 4, 1945 

